Red Sox: Fans broke rule of no signs hung at Fenway Park

A banner is unfurled over the left field wall during the fourth inning of a baseball game between the Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athletics at Fenway Park in Boston, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017.
Charles KrupaAP Photo

A banner is unfurled over the left field wall during the fourth inning of a baseball game between the Boston Red Sox and the Oakland Athletics at Fenway Park in Boston, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017.
Charles KrupaAP Photo

The Red Sox say fans who hung a sign about racism over the wall during a game were escorted from Fenway Park because of a club policy "prohibiting signs of any kind to be hung or affixed to the ballpark."

Some fans unfurled a sign that read: "Racism is as American as Baseball" during the fourth inning of Wednesday night's 7-3 loss to Oakland.

Four individuals were escorted out. There were no arrests and no one was banned from returning, club spokesman Kevin Gregg said Thursday.

The banner was up on the wall for about one batter until umpires asked it be removed because it was in fair territory on the left field wall.

There was a spattering of boos from the crowd as Red Sox security forced the fans to remove it and escorted them from their seats. Some fans holding the banner were white. The Red Sox said one fan said they were inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement.

"Saw it was draped over the Monster," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "From the dugout, you see someone expressing their opinion and it looked like it was withdrawn relatively quick."

Boston right fielder Mookie Betts also saw it.

"There's no place for that," Betts said. "That's for another day, though."

It's not the first time that the Red Sox have responded to the topic of racism at the ballpark.

Earlier this season, Orioles center fielder Adam Jones said after a game on May 1 that he was the victim of racial slurs and had peanuts thrown at him during the game.

The next day, Jones received a personal apology from Boston team president Sam Kennedy on behalf of the club. When he stepped up for his first at-bat of the game, he was given extended applause from the Fenway crowd.

Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale stepped off the mound to allow the applause to continue.

"Just appreciative that action was taken and not everybody feels the same way as selected people," Jones said. "Sale, who works extremely fast, took his time and let it relish a little bit, so I appreciate the sentiments," Jones said after Boston won 5-2.

In August, owner John Henry said his team will lead the effort to change the name of Yawkey Way. The street is currently named after Tom Yawkey, who owned the team from 1933-76 but refused to integrate the team from 1947-59.